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Draft Guidances to Improve Safety of Tomatoes, Leafy Greens and Melons Now Available for Comment

July 31, 2009

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today published a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register, seeking comment on its draft guidances to improve the safety of tomatoes, leafy greens, and melons. These commodity-specific guidances (CSGs) are intended for growers, packers, processors, transporters, retailers and others throughout the supply chain.

In developing the CSGs, FDA relied heavily on existing industry commodity-specific guidances, lessons learned from outbreak and investigations, and other public and private programs. Publication of these guidances is consistent with the principles embraced by the White House Food Safety Working Group, announced recently by Vice President Joe Biden.

Comments

Comments on guidance may be submitted at any time. However, to ensure that comments are received in time for FDA's consideration in drafting final guidance, written or electronic comments should be submitted within 90 days of publication in the Federal Register. Submit written comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD. 20852. Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov. All comments should be identified with the docket number listed in the notice of availability, as published in the Federal Register.

For questions regarding this draft document, contact the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at 301-436-1700.